The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1887-07-30
THE CREOLES OF
LOUISIANA;
Or, "reminiscences Of an Old
Acadian.
BY FELIX VOORHEES,.
BY FELIX VOORHEES,.


but citizeus Of Maryland owning valua-
BILE estates. We have the greatest abun-
dance Of everything at home and out of
our bounty we will share with you. Ac
cept our offer aud the Brent and Smith
families will ever feel grateful to God.
who has giAen them the means to minis
ter to your wants to assuage your afflitiOn
and to soothe your sorrow! How could
werefuss an offer so generously rendered?
1t was impossible for us to find words ex-
pressive of our gratitude, and must say
that when we shook hands with them
without being able to utter single
word, our silence was far more eloquent
then any spoken language we could have
used.
The very same day we moved to their
estates which lay near and | shall never
forget the kind welcome that we received
from those two families. They We'd with
each other in their kind offices towards
us and ministered to our wants with so
much grace and simplicity that it gave
additional value to their already bound
less generosity. PetiOts, let the names of
Brent and smith remain engraved on
your heart forever. Let their remem-
brance never fade from your memory. for
nObler and more generous beings never
breathed the pure air Of God.
Thus it was, petiots, that we settled
in Maryland after leaving Acadia.
Three years passed peacefully and
happily and during the whole of that
period the Brent and Smith families
remained our true and steadfast friends.
Our colony had prospered; ease and plen
ty smiled once more in our dwellings
and we lived as happy as exiles could
away from the fatherland, and ignorant
as we were Of the fate of those from
whom we had been torn in so cruel and
violent a manner. In vain we had
made enquiries to ascertain the fate of
those from whom we had been torn in so
cruel and violent a manner. In vain we
had made enquiries to ascertain the fate
OF our relatives and friends; we could
learn nothing, and we concluded that
we should never see them again. All!
many parent wept for lost child. Many
disconsolate wife pinned away in sorrow
and hopeless gIief for her husband; but,
the saddest lot Of all. petiots' was the
fate OF poor "Emmeline Lablche," and
she heard deep sigh. EmmeIne Labi-
che! Who was Emmeline? We had never
heaved her name mentioned before and
our curiosity was excited to the utmost.
CHAPTER VIII
THE STORY OF EMMELINE LABICHE.
Emmeline Labiche, petiots, was an
orphan girl whose parents had died when
she was quite child. had taken her
to my house and raised her as my own
daughter.
How sweet tempered, how loving she
wasl She had CLOWN to wOmanhood with
all the attractions of her sex and althou-
On not q beauty in the sense usually
given to that word, she was looked upon
as the handsOmest girl in st. Gabriel.
Her fine transparent hazel eyes mir
rored faithfully her pure thoughts. Her
bewitching smile. her dark brown hair |
waved in graceful undulations on her
intelligent forehead and fell in ringlets
on her shoulders, her slender symmetri-l
cal shape, ali contributed to make her
an attractive picture of maiden lowell
ness.